Three Kingdoms: Jiangdong is no longer a rat

Chapter 178 Yi Ji
After receiving the order, Wu Xiu took the post of General of the Central Army of Fuyi, hurriedly prepared carriages, documents, and gifts, and led dozens of people to Qiantang that day.

After entering the Qiantang area, he rode along the official road and was shocked by what he saw along the way.

Only a month had passed since the Battle of Qiantang, and all the villages and pavilions in the western front of the battle area were already in order, with no trace of the war at all.

In contrast, Kuaiji is still in the post-war decadence and chaos. The comparison between the two makes Qiantang's recovery even more rapid.

On the official roads, carriages and horses were constantly passing by, and pedestrians were everywhere. Occasionally, a magnificent carriage with many servants passed by, but they also observed the rules and etiquette and did not disturb them.

On both sides of the official road, farmers were tilling their fields and children were playing. Further away, teams of laborers were busy ramming new roads and building forts.

The more Wu Xiu looked, the more shocked he became, realizing that his new neighbor Qiantang was far more difficult to deal with than he had imagined.

With a heavy heart, he came to Qiantang Transmission House, handed in the documents, and waited for less than two hours before he was summoned by Yan Yi.

When they first met, Wu Xiu had a very good impression of the Lord of Qiantang. He was not as cruel and murderous as Shang Sheng described, nor as unreasonable as Xu Jing said. Instead, he was calm, gentle, polite, and refreshing.

But half an hour later, Wu Xiu's mind changed completely, and he wanted to leave immediately.

He had spent half a day carefully preparing his speech, his ability to improvise, which he was so proud of, but it was completely useless here! No matter how dry his mouth was, no matter how trembling with anger he was, the other party just replied lightly: "One hundred million yuan."

Poor Wu Xiu didn't know yet that he had been completely sold out by Xu Jing.

The Zhou clan's defection had such a devastating impact that Wang Lang was determined to redeem the more important Yu Fan at all costs! Xu Jing had already sent someone to inform Yan Yi of Wang Lang's attitude.

Xu Jing certainly couldn't tolerate Wu Xiu completing the task smoothly. Even if he did, he would have to pay a heavy price. Otherwise, wouldn't it seem that his previous "negotiations" were too incompetent?
So Yan Yi is now just sitting back and waiting to collect the money.

He had initially hesitated about releasing Yu Fan, whom he valued so much, but the cost of expanding the army was too great, and even with the hundreds of millions of yuan he had scraped from Qiantang, it was becoming increasingly difficult to sustain. Using Yu Fan for a ransom became the best option at the moment.

In the end, Wu Xiu, whose cards were all exposed, could only accept all the conditions proposed by Yan Yi with tears in his eyes.

The two parties reached the following agreement, with Yu Fan's return to Kuaiji as the prerequisite:
1. The Kuaiji Army provided the Qiantang Army with five newly developed double-bow crossbows at a discount of 15 million coins.

2. Within two years, Qiantang merchant ships will not have to pay "Haijin Money" when passing through the Kuaiji waters or docking at Kuaiji ports. The Kuaiji navy will protect them at a discount of 50 million coins.

3. Wang Lang provided Yan Yi with a ransom of 35 million yuan.

The double-bow crossbow mentioned in the agreement was the very thing Xu Jing had been actively promoting to Yan Yi. This crossbow, with its bow made of a large wooden string and arrows made of feather spears, required the force of two oxen to pull it, had a range of an astonishing nine hundred steps, and was extremely destructive.

In fact, in the Battle of Qiantang, Yan Yi had already seized more than ten crossbows from the Kuaiji Army, but these crossbows were just old-style crossbows with a range of only 700 steps.

Wu Xiu agreed to sell the double-bow crossbow after a brief hesitation. First, Xu Jing had already sold it to Pinghai. Second, he didn't pay much attention to the double-bow crossbow, believing it simply extended the range of the old crossbow by two hundred steps, a minor difference.

Most people of this era still understood military affairs in terms of strategy and tactics, number of soldiers and their training, and food and fodder supply, and generally lacked attention to military technology.

But Yan Yi, possessing a modern mindset, was fully aware of the profound value inherent in this mere two hundred steps. He vaguely remembered that when crossbow technology reached its peak, its range seemed to have reached two thousand steps, making it an undeniably formidable weapon of war. This process of increasing range took hundreds of years.

Increasing the range of a bed crossbow from a few hundred steps to two thousand steps wasn't as simple as simply adding a few more animals to pull the strings. Just like later fighter planes, it wasn't possible to evolve from a third-generation aircraft to a sixth-generation aircraft all at once.

There will be a long research and development process during this period.

The range of the Kuaiji crossbow increased from 700 steps to 900 steps, which was already a huge improvement. Yan Yi spent a mere 15 million coins to exchange for this 200-step increase, which was simply a bargain.

After the deal was done, Wu Xiu didn't stay a moment longer, fleeing from Qiantang, a place that had left a deep impression on him, yet also deeply humiliated him.

Yan Yi had no interest in this person at all, as he had more important people to meet.

After a short rest, he summoned two guests from Jingzhou to the hearing hall.

One of them was dressed in brocade and silk shoes, looking very much like a businessman. He was Tao Yan, the second in command of the Tao Trading Company, which was affiliated with Liu Biao.

The other person's background is even greater.

This man's surname was Yi and his given name was Ji. He was about twenty-eight or twenty-nine years old, with a thin build, an elegant face, narrow but bright eyes, slightly high cheekbones, and a sparse, short beard under his chin. He had the bearing of a scholar.

Yi Ji, whose courtesy name was Ji Bo, was from Shanyang County, Yanzhou. He was a fellow townsman of Liu Biao and had followed Liu Biao very early. He now served as a military officer under Liu Biao.

Yan Yi was quite familiar with Yi Ji. This man was able to leave his name in history and become well-known in later generations. In addition to his own talents, what was more important was that after Liu Biao's death, he followed Liu Bei seamlessly.

Sometimes the platform is more important than one's own talent. Yi Ji is undoubtedly a man with vision.

After Yan Yi greeted Tao and Yi, he smiled and said, "I have heard of your great names for a long time. Meeting you today is a great honor. Please take a seat!"

Tao Yan ceded the first seat to Yi Ji and took the second seat himself. A businessman's attentive smile played across his face. "Young Master, you defeated Zhu Zhi, Wang Lang, Qian Tong, Zou Ta, and others, taking three cities in a row. Your fame has spread throughout Jiangdong. Lately, as I've been traveling around, I've often heard people say, 'Yan Lang overthrew Wu and Chu, and the tyrants fell like weeds.' This speaks volumes about your prestige."

After a few pleasantries, he continued, "Your Excellency has been so kind to me, granting me this opportunity to cooperate with you. I have diligently and diligently delivered the weapons and war horses you requested to Qiantang. I have had each piece of weapon and each horse carefully inspected, and they are all of the highest quality. Please rest assured, Your Excellency."

Yan Yi said gently, "Thank you, Mr. Tao. It's a rare occasion for you to come to Qiantang. Why don't you stay a few days and let me show my hospitality."

His cooperation with Liu Biao this time was also a coincidence.

Originally, he wanted to purchase military equipment from Jiangdong, but the largest arms dealers in Jiangdong suddenly and unanimously reduced their transactions with him, and were only willing to sell him some ordinary military equipment of medium and low quality, which was seriously inconsistent with his strategy of taking the elite route.

He also knew the details of these arms dealers, one of whom was Wang Lang and the other was Xu Gong.

(End of this chapter)